Product Description

In the year 79 A.D., the beautiful city of Pompeii sits at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. For years, the lovely town has attracted the best of Rome's citizens, and it is famous for both its businesses and luxuries. But a terrible secret lies deep beneath the slopes of the mighty mountain. A secret that will unleash unspeakable horrors on the fateful afternoon of August 24th...

Come to beautiful Pompeii with this exciting game! You will use cards to attract your Roman friends and relatives to the town. But hidden in the deck is the dreaded Vesuvius card! Once this card is drawn, the volcano will erupt, raining fire onto the unsuspecting city! Now you must struggle to escape the doomed city, rushing to avoid the constant streams of lave that threaten to engulf your people! Will you be able to save them all? The player with the most survivors will be the winner!

Product Reviews

Okay, maybe my family is a little twisted but for us to really enjoy
a game there's got to be some good old fashioned meanness
going on. This game delivers but in a not-too-nasty way.

At first you race against each other to get the best locations in
the city and once the volcano erupts (when it's your turn) you
have the option of benignly placing a lava tile in an unpopulated
part of the city or just plonking (yes, that is a word) it down right
on top of your opponents. Ahh, the angry words, the pleas for
mercy, the sleeping on the couch after the game...

Well, just make sure you have a group of people who don't mind
a little mischievous fun. It's easy to learn, and quick to play so
you'll have plenty of time for the revenge matches your fellow
players will be demanding. And most of all you'll have lots of
fun!! And isn't why you're playing board games with your friends
and family to start with?

The clever Pompeii theme carries this game --
and the volcano is a nice touch!

The game starts sedately -- players draw
cards to populate the city with their own
citizens, and their "relatives." Then, the first
volcano card pops up, and the fun begins.
Now, whenever an "Omen" card is drawn, a
player can throw another player's citizens into
the volcano. When the "A.D. 79 card" is
drawn, things start to get really interesting.
In this stage of the game, players take turns
drawing lava tiles and placing them in various
parts of the city, and moving as many of their
citizens as possible through the city gates to
safety. Place a lava tile on a space with
citizens on it, and throw them into the
volcano! The player with the most surviving
citizens wins.

This is a quick game to learn, since the theme
makes things intuitively obvious -- first, get
people into the city, then get them out.

While it will not tax your brain, there is some
strategy involved in deciding where to place
citizens in the first part of the game, and how
to move them out in the second part. (For
instance, the number of spaces a piece can
move is equal to the number of pieces sharing
its current space. Also, it can pay to move
your piece to a space occupied by opposing
players, to minimize the chances of having
your piece flattened by a lava tile.)

This is a great game for kids. It plays quickly
(generally, within 30 minutes), and they seem
to enjoy tossing citizens into the volcano!

Finally, the game looks great. The board is
sturdy and attractive, and the lava tiles (which
have different themes to indicate which part of
the city they can be placed in) are colorful.
And we do love that volcano!

To make a game on a recent disaster would be unthinkable – in fact,
I’ve refused to review one such game that made light of recent world
events. The main reason for that is that these events are fresh in
our minds, and to make light of them with a game seems cruel and
uncaring. Oddly, events almost two thousand years old aren’t quite as
offensive – thus the game The Downfall of Pompeii (Mayfair Games, 2006
- Klaus Jurgen Wrede). Based on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and
consequent destruction of the city of Pompeii in 79 AD, it takes an
ancient tragedy and turns it into a fun, humorous game.

Putting aside the question of whether or not the theme is offensive
(the vast majority seem to not care), Pompeii is an extremely fun
game. Yes, there is certainly luck laced throughout the game and
certainly a high interaction factor, but it’s fast and fun; and
everyone I’ve played with gets a big kick out of throwing their
opponents pieces into the volcano. There may be some odd logical
problems with the theme, but the looming volcano on the board helps
bring the game to life; and it is well suited as an enjoyable “filler”
game, one that will most likely attract many people – even those not
normally known as “gamers.”

A board representing the town of Pompeii is placed on the board,
divided into a grid of squares, having seven gates around the city
where players can escape. There are eleven numbered buildings in four
different colors and several other “neutral” buildings scattered
around the city, each with circular spaces for one to seven people in
them. Each player takes a number of pieces that represent people
(number determined by the amount of players) in their color, and a
plastic volcano piece is placed on one side of the city. A deck of
cards is prepared for the first phase of the game according to
specifications in the rulebook, with each player given four cards as
their starting hand. The player next to the dealer takes the first
turn, and then play passes clockwise around the table.

On a player’s turn, they simply play one of the cards in their hand,
which matches the color and number of one of the buildings on the
board. The player then places one of their people into one of the
open circles in the building. They then draw a card, and the next
player takes their turn. This continues until one player draws the
A.D 79 card. At this point, two new rules take effect. If a player
draws an “Omen” card, they must immediately discard it and take any
other players’ person from the board and throw them into the volcano,
drawing a replacement card. The other new rule is known as
“relatives”. When a player places a person in a building, they may
place extra people onto the board equal to the number of people
already in that building. These extra people may be placed in the
same building, in a numbered building of the same color, or any of the
neutral buildings. If players play a card that matches a building
that is already full, then the card acts as a “wild” card but does not
trigger any relatives. Again, play continues until the second A.D.
79 card is drawn, at which point the volcano erupts!

At this point, all players discard their cards and get rid of any
extra people they still have in front of them. To represent the lava,
a bag of tiles is brought out – filled with square tiles of lava –
each with one of six different symbols on it (scroll, vase, helmet,
mask, coin, and column). The player to the left of the triggering
player draws a tile and places it on the square on the board that
matches that symbol, and then passes the bag to the player on their
left. This continues until six tiles are placed on the board. If a
player draws a tile that has already been placed, then the new tile is
placed adjacent to one of the tiles with the same symbol. Any people
who happen to be in the square where lava tiles are placed are thrown
into the volcano. After six tiles are placed, the player to the left
of the last person to place begins the second phase of the game.

In this phase, a player must first draw a lava tile and place it
according to the rules above then move two of their game pieces. When
placing the lava tile, if it surrounds game pieces so that they can no
longer make it to any of the seven gates, they are removed and thrown
into the volcano. When moving, the player moves two different pieces.
Each piece may move one square for each of the total pieces that are
in the same square as it begins in. Players can move through any
square, attempting to get their pieces to one of the gates. If a
player gets a person out of the city gates, they place the piece in
front of them. If a player only has one piece or has a piece alone in
a spot, they may move it twice instead of two different pieces.

The game continues until the last lava tile is drawn from the bag or
if there are no people alive in the city. At this point, the player
with the most pieces in front of them wins – ties being broken by the
player with the fewest pieces in the volcano.

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: I have the original Amigo version of the game and was
pleased to see that they replaced the thin paper-stock volcano with a
plastic one that really fits well into a large hole in the board (it
does feel odd to punch out a large circle from the board and throw it
away). The volcano is certainly the centerpiece of the game – and
looks good on the board – which has some very nice artwork that gives
an arial view of the city. As the lava tiles are pulled from the red
cloth bag, it really does look like lava is crazily running all
throughout the city. The cards are very high quality, and the cards
for different building match in color, number, and picture, helping to
easily differentiate them. The player pieces are small octagonal
cylinders - which I suppose is better than cubes - that make a
satisfying noise when thrown into the tower. Everything fits inside a
nice plastic insert in a medium sized box – with good artwork helping
evoke the time period.

2.) Rules: I remember when I first got the original game and
downloaded the translation off the internet how confusing the setup of
the deck was – especially since there was only one A.D. 79 card which
had to be reshuffled in at one point. The new rules, which are on
eight full color pages with lots of examples and pictures, are much
easier to understand – and are actually quite clear. The game itself
is extremely easy to teach, which is why I rate it highly as a
“gateway” game - a game that allows people who have played very few
games to get involved quickly and easily. Teenagers and even younger
children should have no problem – making this an excellent family game.

3.) Strategy: At first, it seems a bit haphazard as to where one
places their people – you are somewhat constricted by the cards in
your hand, and who really knows where the lava is going to come from.
It’s good to be in populated areas of the city, because everyone is
going to work together to rescue their people. In the second half of
the first phase, it seems like the obvious choice would be to place
people in such a way that would allow you to place the most relatives.
After all, the person with the most people in the city has the most
people who might escape, right? This sounds accurate, but usually
doesn’t work for two reasons. One - the player with the most people
in the city is often targeted by others when placing the lava tiles,
and two – the fact that ties are broken by the player with the fewest
people in the volcano. So perhaps the best place to put people is in
buildings that are situated near the gates. Doing so gives you only a
few people, so is that worth it, though?

4.) Family: Okay, the above paragraph really doesn’t talk up the
massive strategy in the game, because there really isn’t any. It’s
all about the laughing, the pleading to put the lava tile on someone
else’s people, and the general having a good time. This is one of the
few games that I’m actually surprised at the limit of only four
players, as it seems as if it would be a wonderful game for six
people. The game has two distinct halves, and the first is merely a
setup for the hilarious and enjoyable second half.

5.) Fun Factor: The game isn’t meant to be taken seriously, and the
theme is far enough removed to feel abstract and silly. I’ve seen
negative comments on the internet, in which players criticized the
randomness of the game. I will certainly grant the random factor, but
the game is at its best as simply a fun, enjoyable game played for
laughs and the fellowship. It’s a game in which a lot of talking
occurs, as players attempt to convince people where to place the lava
tiles and outrun them. There certainly is a sense of urgency as you
attempt to get your little wooden cylinders out of the city before
they are thrown screaming into the volcano.

Pompeii isn’t going to achieve the stardom of Wrede’s best-known game,
Carcassonne; but it is one that families in particular should check
out. I’m constantly surprised at the good reception the game
receives, and it is one of my most requested games. Perhaps it is the
act of throwing pieces into a fake volcano – perhaps it is the
simplicity and quickness of gameplay. I prefer to think it’s because
the game is fun.